Mental Health Awareness Week (9th – 15th May)

This week (9th – 15th May) is Mental Health Awareness Week. This year, the theme is ‘loneliness’.

B-Inspired are going to be doing more work around supporting people to combat loneliness and improve their mental health, over the course of the coming weeks and months.

We all know that loneliness can have a devasting impact on our mental wellbeing, but do you know that loneliness also affects our physical health?

The Braunstone area of the city has a relatively high ageing population. Sadly, elderly people experienced increased loneliness during the pandemic due to lockdowns and people having to shield and self-isolate.

This ‘disconnect’ between people has to be broken and we have to get connected. This is the responsibility of all of us. Elderly people have given so much to our society over the years and we owe it to them to reduce their loneliness and rebuild the bridges that allow elderly people to participate fully in their local areas and the city as a whole.

B-Inspired currently runs a Befriending Service where people visit elderly people in their homes or telephone regularly, two ‘Talk Time’ sessions a week where older people come together to meet, talk and take part in various activities, as well as a weekly Men’s Workshop where items are repaired, or made, to be sold in PreLoved@45, which is a local community business.

We will be holding new taster sessions in the coming months to benefit people’s mental wellbeing, as well as listening to local people and expanding the current sessions.

 

Therefore, we have three asks during Mental Health Awareness Week:

 

  1. If you live in Braunstone, please get in touch with your ideas and what you would want b-inspired to do to reduce loneliness and get connected again.
  2. If you have relatives or friends in Braunstone, especially elderly people, please ask them to get in touch and to think about coming along to a session.
  3. Wherever you live, please consider volunteering for B-Inspired’s Befriending Scheme. There are different opportunities and any time commitment will be more than welcome.

 

Volunteering, as well as coming along to different activities, can help us all get connected. Together we can reduce the loneliness experienced by our elderly population and help increase confidence and benefit mental wellbeing.

If you are interested in any of these things, or have any thoughts, then we would love for you to get in touch with us. Please contact Gavin George, Befriending Coordinator, on 0116 279 5020 and gavin.george@b-inspired.org.uk. Or, if you live locally, please pop into B-Inspired’s Neighbourhood Support Base on Gallards Hill, LE3 1QR.

But, above all, please take time this week to call in, or telephone, an elderly neighbour, friend or family members during Mental Health Awareness Week.

B-Inspired will also be sharing tips and tricks on how to local after your mental health on our social media pages; so please keep an eye out for those!